Paper novelties



United States Patent PAPER NOVELTIES Fred L. Maas, Huntington, N. Y., assignor to Paper Novelty Manufacturing Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 20, 1952, Serial No. 277,707

3 Claims. (Cl. 41-11) This invention relates to a paper novelty, and, in particular, to what may be broadly classed with greeting cards, the article comprising an actual greeting or display card and means for supporting the same in upright position; and the general object is to provide a novel, simple, and inexpensive novelty of this type which is collapsible so that it may be shipped and stored in flattened condition to avoid waste of space.

A particular object of the invention is to provide a valentine, or other greeting or display article, preferably made of perfected printed and diecut cardboard, and having a collapsible honeycomb tissue paper stand made as part thereof.

The invention contemplates a display article comprising a sheet of suitable material, preferably cardboard, having display matter printed or otherwise applied to one or both flat surfaces thereof, and another sheet similar in size and shape to the lower portion of the first mentioned sheet, and therefore, of course, smaller, the two sheets being provided with oppositely disposed slits of equal length, such length being substantially half the height of the smaller sheet. The slit in the larger sheet extends upwardlyfrom the lower edge thereof, and the slit in the smaller sheet extends downwardly from the upper edge thereof, whereby the sheets may be mated at the slits to form a cruciform the arms of which may be disposed at various angles with respect to each other. Between two pairs of arms a collapsible tissue paper honeycomb is secured, the honeycomb, when flattened, having the size and shape of one half the smaller sheet and one half the lower portion of the larger sheet. Thus when the cruciform is flattened the two honeycombs are also flattened. When the sheets are rotated 180 with respect to each other around the slits as an axis the honeycombs expand circumferentially and form a sort of honeycomb drum which serves as an ornamental as well as a practical base for the upper part of the large sheet, which may now stand upright.

The invention may be embodied in a particularly attractive valentine or other greeting item, and the feature of the expansible and collapsible decorative base provides an element of pleasant surprise to the recipient. As a valentine, for example-a form which has been selected herein for purposes of illustration-the display matter of the two sheets are preferably perfectly printed in multicolor on a common cardboard blank, the display matter corresponding to the smaller sheet being a photographic copy of the lower portion of the display matter of the larger sheet. After printing, the two sheets may be diecut from the blank. The attractiveness of the article is enhanced if the outlines of the diecut sheets form a design, as herein illustrated. The slitting of the sheets may take place while they are being diecut.

The tissue paper honeycombs may be diecut from flattened sandwiches of this well known material, each cutout being, when flattened, similar in size and shape to one half of both the smaller sheet and the lower portion of the large sheet.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description and from the drawing, in which one form, suitable for a valentine, is shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a face view showing the article collapsed for packaging and shipment.

Fig. 2 is a side view showing the article as set up.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the lower portion of the article, the plane and direction of view corresponding to 2,704,904 Patented Mar. 29, 1955 ice index 3-3 of Fig. 1. In Fig. 3 the article is in process of being set up.

The drawing shows a greeting item of the valentine type, comprising a main card 1, having a medial vertical slit 2 extending upwardly from the lower edge of said card, and a smaller card 3, having the size and shape of the lower portion of the main card 1, and having a medial vertical slit 4 extending downwardly from the upper edge of said smaller card. The two cards are mated at their respective slits, as shown best in Fig. 1, whereby the cards may be rotated relatively to each other around the slits 2 and 4 as an axis. Obviously the cards, while so mated, may be angularly disposed with respect to each other, as shown in Fig. 1, to form a substantially flat combination. Mounted on the outer edges of the left and right halves of the smaller card 3 are suitable clips, preferably metallic, the clips being designated 5. In Fig. 1 the lefthand clip is toward the viewer and is shown in solid lines; the righthand clip is beyond the lower righthand half of card 1, and is therefore shown in dotted lines. The clips 5 are adapted to be employed for the purpose of securing the outer edges of the smaller card and the lower portion of the large card together when the article is in set up condition, as shown in Fig. 2.

With reference to Fig. 1, wherein the article is shown in flattened condition for packaging and shipment, a honeycomb tissue paper sandwich, having the shape and size of the lefthand halves of the smaller card 3 and the lower portion of card 1, is assumed to be secured between said halves and to be flattened therebetween. Such sandwich is designated 6, and is shown expanded in Figs. 2 and 3. Another honeycomb tissue paper sandwich, having the shape and size of the righthand halves of the smaller card 3 and the lower portion of card 1, is assumed to be secured between said halves and to be flattened therebetween. This lastnamed sandwich is designated 7, and is shown at the beginning of the process of expansion in Fig. 3, and fully expanded in Fig. 2. The honeycomb tissue paper sandwiches, preferably diecut from this well known material to match the lower portions or the article, may be glued between the two cards 1 and 3 in usual manner.

The item is set up from its flattened condition by rotating cards 1 and 3, relatively to each other. Card 3 is preferably unscored along its vertical median line, but for purposes of illustration this card is shown bent along such line in Fig. 3. Specifically this figure shows that the left half of card 3, with reference to Fig. 1, has been rotated 180 with respect to the plane of card 1, against which said half originally lay flat. This has resulted in expanding honeycomb 6 circumferentially or fanwise, as shown in Fig. 3. The right half of card 3, with reference to Fig. 1, has only begun to be rotated away from the plane of card 1, in Fig. 3, showing the early appearance of the honeycomb 7 during the setting up operation. In practice, of course, if card 3 is not scored, both the left and right halves of the smaller card rotate together and honeycombs 6 and 7 are expanded circumferentially or fanned simultaneously.

When the 180 relative rotary movement of the two cards is complete, the article may be permanently secured in the condition shown in Fig. 2 by means of the clips 5, part of each clip, mounted on an outer edge of card 3, being bent, as best shown in Fig. 3, around an outer edge of the lower portion of card 1.

The two expanded honeycombs 6 and 7, disposed back to back, as indicated in Fig. 2, comprise a drumlike pedestal for the article, whereby card 1 may stand erect, as shown in Fig. 1.

The form of the invention illustrated in the drawing accords with an actual valentine made by applicant. The card 1 was perfectly printed to show the front and back view of a puppy within a basket, the basket having a handle and a conventional heart, with copy thereon, applied to the right side of the handle, as in Fig. 1. No printed matter is indicated in the drawing. When the honeycombs are set up they not only provide a steady base for the greeting article, but also the rotundity of the basket.

In Fig. 1, wherein the article is in collapsed or flattened condition, it will be noted that the left half of card 3 overlies the left half of the lower portion of card 1, and that the right half of card 3, assuming the article to be viewed from the rear, overlies the right half of the lower portion of card 1. In the interests of attractiveness of the article, those halves of card 3, the opposite surfaces of which are exposed when the card is collapsed or flattened, should photographically mate with the then exposed halves of the lower portion of card 1, so that, even in its flattened condition, the article presents a complete picture both from the front and from the rear. Of course, when the article is set up, as by rotation of the halves of card 3 and expansion and fanning of the honeycombs 6 and 7, any printed matter, as for example, in the instant valentine, representing the above mentioned basket, disappears altogether, and the basket then is represented by the expanded honeycombs as a three dimensional object, which may be suitably colored.

It has been found preferable to perfection print the two card elements of the article from a single blank, and to diecut the elements therefrom after printing. Of course an article of this type would ordinarily be printed in multicolor, to add to its appeal. In the preferred manner of printing the blank the process plates for the two surfaces of the smaller card 3 would be photographically similar to the portions of the process plates for card 1 which portions relate to the obscured parts of the printed matter of the lastnamed card when the article is assembled. If this manner is followed, the article, when flattened, presents substantially the appearance, on both front and back, of an uninterrupted picture or other design.

Although the illustrated valentine is shown to be cut so as to have particular outlines conforming to a selected design, it will be fully understood that the invention may be embodied in the form of a large rectangle, carrying a' display, and a smaller rectangle congruent with the lower portion of the first mentioned, the two rectangles being slit, as described, and being joined together by the honeycombs as set forth above.

I claim:

1. A display article comprising a main sheet of paper printed on both sides having a substantially medial slot extending upwardly from the lower edge thereof, another sheet of paper printed on both sides having substantially the shape of the lower portion of said main sheet and having a substantially medial slot extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof, said sheets being joined whereby part of each sheet is pivotally received within the slot of the other sheet, and two collapsible tissue paper honeycomb structures, one thereof secured to both sheets on one side of said slots, and the other thereof secured to both sheets on the other side of said slots.

2. The display article of claim 1 wherein the printed matter on said other sheet is identical with the printed matter on the lower portion of said main sheet.

3. The display article of claim 1, including means for securing the lateral edges of said sheets to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,593,646 Beistle July 27, 1926 1,593,647 Beistle July 27, 1926 1,665,618 Wilson Apr. 10, 1928 2,067,527 Grene Jan. 12, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,210 Great Britain Nov. 26, 1903 

